More and more Perth residents are living further from job opportunities, increasing the reliance on cars.

An analysis has revealed that, outside the small ring of suburbs on the outskirts of the CBD, most residents have access to fewer than 100,000 jobs within 30 minutes of their home.

Public transport is the key. Byford residents, who do not have rail nearby, have access to only 5200 jobs within 30 minutes, while Midland-Guildford residents, who have had rail for more than 100 years, have 88,000 jobs within 30 minutes.

The findings are part of PwC’s CityPulse project, which uses an array of parameters and data to identify suburb-by-suburb trends and features.

PwC director Craig Shepherd said Perth was one of the lowest dwelling-density cities in the Western world — to get from the centre of Mandurah to Two Rocks takes a two-hour drive covering more than 135km.

Mr Shepherd said most cities formed around a dense core of concentrated economic activity, businesses and jobs and this pattern was pronounced in Perth.

“It means you get enormous efficiencies from infrastructure investments near the core — in terms of economic impact but also in the amenity and options they give to citizens,” he said.

“But it also means that, increasingly, people who live on Perth’s fringes have less access to opportunity.

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Even when travelling by car, north of Joondalup and south of Rockingham, the accessibility of knowledge-based jobs and amenities falls rapidly.”

Mr Shepherd said plans to expand the rail system would bring more residents closer to job opportunities.

He said the CityPulse data had shown surprising features across the metropolitan area, including the Pinjarra-Ravenswood-Mandurah region being an area with strong economic potential and good accessibility to jobs, given Landcorp’s emerging Nambeelup Strategic Industry Area.

Despite this, Mandurah had recorded high unemployment. Areas with good employment levels and good access to jobs included City Beach, Applecross, Iluka and Hillarys.

Curtin University sustainability expert Peter Newman said manufacturing industries were generally those that scattered to the suburbs and Perth was not a high manufacturing city.

“It’s the service or knowledge economy jobs that centralise,” Professor Newman said.

“This happens because services and knowledge exchange need face-to-face contact and thus dense urban areas with good public transport are critical to make them efficient.

“Perhaps the lithium valley jobs, up to 100,000 estimated, will be more in the outer suburbs as we learn to manufacture battery minerals and batteries.”